I should not have doubted HBO Real Sports. I have to take back what I said previously about their 1985 Chicago Bears feature. I made those statements based off their press release previewing the episode and hyping it up. After seeing it, I have to say that I was wrong. Completely wrong.
You have to see the Real Sports piece on the 1985 Chicago Bears. It was incredible. Incredibly good. It was the polar opposite of the puff piece features you see on local Chicago TV.
Mike Ditka showed a human side that we haven’t seen in years. He actually made public statements about serious issues that sane people would believe. In his interview with Bryant Gumbel he came off as a very sympathetic figure.
When Jim McMahon is profiled, you can’t help but feel your heart bleed for him. Ditto for the Fridge, Wilber Marshall et al. Get HBO on demand, find it online, whatever it takes but see the 1985 Chicago Bears piece.
Real Sports does a lot of great, and very important work. They go places other news teams don’t. They expose atrocity and hypocrisy. The program covers serious issues with depth and detail that most other news outlets lack. This piece was no different.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
You can read Banks’ feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye newspaper and listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)